St. Rocco Waterfall and Bridge at Tivoli (Cascata e Ponte di St. Rocco a Tivoli) Austria, 18th century

Presumably from Mahlerischradirte Prospecte von Italien (a set of 72 etchings published by Frauenholtz, Mexhau, Dies, and Reinhart, each contributed 24 plates)

St. Rocco Waterfall and Bridge at Tivoli (Cascata e Ponte di St. Rocco a Tivoli)

1795

Albert Christoph Dies

(Austrian, 1755–1822)

Austria, 18th century

etching in brown ink

Support: Wove paper

Sheet: 39.9 x 30.7 cm (15 11/16 x 12 1/16 in.); Platemark: 36.8 x 27.5 cm (14 1/2 x 10 13/16 in.)

Gift of Susan Schulman in memory of Fred Schmidt 2002.105

Catalogue raisonné: Andresen 27

Location: not on view

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Description

Throughout the latter part of the 18th century, successive generations of German artists visited Italy in order to study the acknowledged masterpieces of antiquity and the Renaissance. After an unsatisfactory initial course of study of printmaking in Basel, Dies set out on foot to Rome where he remained for twenty years working as a painter and etcher. This etching of an artist sketching a picturesque view at Tivoli came from a series of Italian views. Although at the time Dies’s work was criticized for being executed too freely, this composition articulates the Romantic landscapist’s bond with nature that dominated 19th-century German art.